Pandemic Is Not Over, PM Johnson Warns UK Ahead Of Lifting Restrictions

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. (Wikimedia Commons/UK Prime Minister)

JAKARTA - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Britons to remain vigilant, observing health protocols, as he announced plans to lift all COVID-19 restrictions, despite a recent spike in infection cases.

Earlier this week, PM Johnson put forward a proposal to scrap rules on the wearing of masks and social distancing, as well as instructions to work from home, on what he called a one-way road to freedom. Announcement regarding this will be made Monday 12 July local time.

"The global (COVID-19) pandemic is not over yet," he said in a statement released on the evening of Sunday 11 July.

"Cases will increase as we open them, so when we confirm our plans today, our message will be clear. Caution is very important, and we all have to take responsibility so we don't undo our progress," said PM Boris Johnson.

The UK has implemented one of the fastest vaccination programmes in the world, with more than 87 per cent of adults having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and another 66 per cent having received two doses of the vaccine.

Nevertheless, the last few weeks have seen a notable spike in infections, to levels not seen since winter.

The government argues that despite the spike in infection cases, the death and hospitalization rates remain much lower than before, evidence that vaccines save lives and are safer to open.

Prime Minister Johnson's office said the green light for lifting restrictions depended on meeting four tests, enough people being vaccinated, a vaccine that reduces hospitalizations and deaths, stress-free hospitals and a variant that doesn't pose too great a risk.

Separately, the Minister for Vaccination at the British Ministry of Health, Nadhim Zahawi, in a statement yesterday, asked citizens to remain vigilant.

"Although face masks are no longer mandatory, the guidelines will state that people are expected to wear masks in confined spaces indoors," he said.

Meanwhile, some scientists and officials have expressed concern, claiming the authorities' attitude was too soon (lifting restrictions).

"I know the government is desperate to get people back into work but I think over the next four to six weeks it needs to be implemented very carefully to keep transmission at bay," Professor Susan Hopkins of Public Health England told Times Radio.